Paring(s): Austin/Bri

Summary:
 Exams are 3 months away and Mario has not stopped studying. He comes out for food, to shower and classes but that's about it. He still hangs out with his friends but every time he does he just goes through math drills in his head. So his friends want to give him an actual break but Mario just wants to work. Will his friends be able to get him to take a break?

Warning(s): None

Character(s): Mario (mainly him), Micheal, Ritchie, Austin.

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Mario sighed as he looked out of the window in front of him as he sat at his desk. There was an open book to the side with multiple neatly stacked books on top of each other beside his desk, there's also notes lightly scattered near him on the desk as well as a notebook which contained the notes he was writing down. First with pencil, then in pen, once he had triple checked that the spelling, grammar, punctuation, and correct word usage was in place.

All in all, he was quite busy. He was starti to struggle to juggle everything in his life together. Studying, Classes, Family Issues, not to mention his roommates weren't helping at all.

Speaking of which, here comes one now.

"When are you gonna leave this room?" asked Micheal from his now open door. He somehow silently managed to open the door without him noticing. Micheal was one of his roommates, and friends as much as he wouldn't say it out loud, he was the most tolerable. But sometimes he could be a little much.

Mario sighed once again and continued to write in pencil as he stated, "Until I either need to go for food, water, the bathroom or classes." Micheal chuckled, "what about your friends?" Mario squinted at his rough draft essay as he heard that and just replied with, "what friends?"

Micheal liked to tease him about having friends because he never said they were, it was implied but he never showed it because he just didn't feel the need to. Micheal liked to say it was because he was shy about it. And as much as he won't say it, he was a little shy about it. He's never really had many friends.

Micheal walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder as he looked over at the essay Mario was writing. He looked at it for a solid 5 seconds before asking, "You know you've been writing the same word over again, right?" Mario stopped his pencil as he took a good look at the page. He had written the same few words over and over again for a good couple of sentences. He was distracted. Mario leaned back in his chair and stretched with his pencil in hand. Micheal took that as a no as he removed his hand from his shoulder. "You're just gonna burn yourself out at this point."

"No, I won't." Micheal just bluntly replied, "Yeah right, you've probably haven't been outside this room since last night." Mario raised an eyebrow as he let his hands fall to his sides and finally looked at Micheal. "Last night?"

Micheal raised his own eyebrow and said, "Yeah. The last time I saw you was when you said you were going to go study at, what, 10 p.m. yesterday" Mario's eyes widened a little, "What time is it now." Micheal rolled up his sleeves and looked at his watch. "1 am." Mario was taken back by his words and averted his gaze to the window in front of him, just like how he was before Micheal came in. Had he really been in here that long?

Micheal knew what that look meant and just sighed dramatically, he threw his arms up. "That's it." He said as he pulled Mario's chair back. "Hey!" Mario protested but Micheal ignored him and made the chair face him. "We're going to get coffee," he declared, looking at him dead in the eyes. 

Mario just returned them with plain disbelief in his. "Come again?" he questioned. Micheal rolled his eyes and stood up completely, putting his hands on his hips. "We," he started off slowly. Like he talking down to a child. He also pointed to himself and Mario's body. "Are going," he pointed to the window outside towards the moon. "Outside," he finished.

Mario just shook his head affectionately. "I know what you said, I meant to say why." "Well, it's obvious that when you go--" Mario interrupted. "If I go. Which I won't." Micheal ignored him, "When you go with me to get coffee it'll help you stay awake to finish this essay."

He did make a good point, he was starting to fall asleep and that was when his mind wandered too much. Maybe some caffeine would make it better. He sighed as an answer to Micheal's question. His eyes lit up in satisfaction as he pulled Mario out of his chair. "Woah, Woah. Slow down!" "Nope! We've gotta get you to take a shower, you smell awful by the way." Mario snickered as he sarcastically replied, "love you too."

Turns out that 'coffee' was actually dinner as they ended up eating burgers with no coffee. They talked about how exams were coming up, which Micheal could obviously see how stressed Mario was becoming so he becomes automatically worried (which Mario isn't used to so that caught him off guard). Mario just brushed it off saying he would be fine. But that was something Micheal had learned over time about being his friend, it was that the guy pushed himself way too much.

Mario ended up going back to the dorm with Micheal at 4:30 am, and he was tired as he eyes have been drooping for the past hour. So as soon as Micheal stopped to open the door with his keys he saw Mario leaning against him with his eyes closed. Sleeping peacefully. Micheal smiled and chuckled quietly as to not wake him. He ended up putting him and himself to bed that night.

~

"Watcha working on." 

Mario nearly had a heart attack when he heard someone talk out of the blue. He jumped out of his chair with a surprised yelp. When he turned his head to see his other roommate, and friend he supposed, Ritchie looking back at him with a sheepish on his face he calmed down as he sat back in his seat. "Give a guy a warning next time, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Ritchie just rubbed his neck and apologized, personally he thought that Ritchie was the second most endurable one. Mario sighed as he looked back over to his notes. "So... what are you doing," Ritchie asked as he came over to Mario's desk.

Mario looked at his desk to see his science book wide open with sticky notes sticking on some of the pages. "Taking notes," he explained and he looked back over to Ritchie who was looking over his science book. Thankfully he was studying in daylight this time. "Yesh, when did you get so serious?" Mario just grabbed another sticky note off his desk, "I've always been serious Ritchie." "Were you? I don't remember you being this stressed." Mario just raised an eyebrow and confusedly said: "Who said I was stressed?" 

Ritchie just ignored that comment and took the sticky note from Mario's hand. He simply looked at him in amusement and saw how he took a pen from his desk and wrote something sloppily on it. "Really?" he said as he watched Ritchie hand it back to him. He took it cautiously and looked down at it as he read it out loud. It said the following, 'Let's go pet animals.'

Okay, now he was even more confused as he looked up to see Ritchie grinning at him excitedly. He just told him, "I found out there was an animal shelter nearby and I wanted to go pet some of the animals." Mario just shook his head fondly at his friends and grabbed the pen out of his hand. "Then go if you want." "Oh, no, no, no my friend." He pulled him out of his chair the same way Micheal did, just with more power in him. He pointed at him, "you're coming with me."

"What? Why?" Mario asked with a slight frown, Ritchie just stated: "cause I wanna pet some animals, and you being in this stuffy room is no good." "But I was studying when you came in."

Ritchie just sighed as he responded, "you're gonna make me do it, aren't you." Mario just rubbed his eyes against his nose so he couldn't look at Ritchie and asked, "do what?"

He didn't look for a bit but when he did, he was greeted with a pair of blue-ish eyes that were glimmering with hope. They were so pleading like a lovesick puppy dog, it was so ridiculous sweet Mario thought he would throw up. He just turned his head to not look at him, it was a lot easier to say no to. But when he heard Ritchie beg innocently, "Pleeeeeeeease?" He knew just couldn't say no.

When he had said yes, Ritchie beamed. Literally and figurately somehow. So that's how he ended up being enthusiastically dragged by his friend all around the shelter, petting whatever was in sight. He petting an arrangement of animals. He pet dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, hamsters, and he ended up petting a bird somehow as well. 

~

Mario huffed as he bit his pencil that was in his dominant hand, even though he was ambidextrous he still used one main hand. In front of him was some math drills he was going over. It had the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division but they were large numbers. This was something he needed no distractions for, complete focus. He was challenging himself to not use a calculator, this was one of his weak points and he was going to conquer it.

 And he was... Until another one of his roommates entered into his room, somehow quietly. Or maybe he just didn't hear his footsteps. 

"Hiiiiiiii, Mario." 

Of course, the least most intolerable one of his friends. (He was still getting used to calling them that but it was getting a little easier)

Austin, or Panda by his nickname by his panda hat that sat on his head, was leaning with his head on his Mario's head. Mario just decided to ignore him and continue his drills, this required effort, focus and time. "Marriiioooooo," that Panda seemed to not want to give him, might he add. He still ignored him, but he decided to have a little fun with him. He lifted his head up slightly, stopping his drills, and looked around anywhere but Austin. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Yeah, right in front of you," Panda answered obviously as he no longer sat his head of his, Mario had to bit his lip to stop a smile from growing on his face. "Huh, must have been the wind," he said to the air as he looked back at his drills. "No! I'm right here." Panda went to the side of his desk and looked directly at him with a straight face. He waved a hand in front of him, he knew by now he was messing with him.

"Mario, this isn't funny. I'm literally standing right in front of you." Mario just focused on the paper in front of him and wrote down random answers, he mental noted to change them later. "Mario! Hey, can you hear me--" he stopped suddenly as his eyes widened. "Wait, am I invisible? Oh god am I dead?!? Oh no, no, no, no--" Austin continued to say the word no over and over again and was talking about how he still had so much he wanted to do in life as he paced behind Mario who was currently sat in his chair, shaking in silent laughter.

He let a few chuckles escape him, one of them went noticed by Austin. "So you can hear me!" Mario snickered at that, of course he could. "Oh, so you think that's funny, huh?" Ridiculously funny, Mario thought.

It was silent for a moment, much to Mario's nervous anticipation. But when he heard: "Fine then, laugh at this." Mario didn't have time to process what he said because he suddenly felt to hands attacking his sides from the back of him. But they weren't meant to cause harm he realized, he suddenly felt something rise up from his diaphragm. 

He then realized Austin was tickling him. He grabbed Austin's hands to protect himself as they made their way to his ribs, "Stoahahahahahap! Pahahahadahahaha!" he laughed out. "Huh, what was that?" Okay, now Austin was messing with him. "I-I cahahahan't! Nohoho! Hahahaha!"

"Strange, I thought I heard something. Guess it was the wind." He could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Ausstihihihihihin! C'mononon, Quit ihihiht!" He heard Austin hum thoughtfully, "I don't know. Will you not ignore me and hear what I have to say?"

"Mayahahahabehehe?" "Oh! And you have to agree on it," he added, which Mario obviously answered with, "Whahahahat? Nohohoho!" He heard Austin give a 'tsk', "Alright then, I guess I'll have to keep tickling you until you agree." He then moved up to his ribs and gave them a couple of jabs, Mario's laughter instantly picked up. "Ack! NohohohahHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Soooooo, are you going to...?" "YES! JUSAHAHAHAHAST STAHAHAHAP!" Panda smiled goofily with satisfaction as he stopped and removed his hands from Mario's ribs. Which Maro instantly curled a little on himself to rub the feeling away as he kept giggling, yes giggling, and chuckling. "Why dihihihd you dohohoho thahat?" he asked breathlessly as he slowly got air back into his lungs. "You were ignoring me and made me believe I was dead!" he accused. "You were the one who came into my room trying to distract me!" "What? You have no proof."

Mario groaned quietly under his breath as he uncurled himself, turning to look his roommate fully. He sighed, "What did you want to ask me?" Austin replied, "I want you to go to the park with me." 

"Why can't you go by yourself?" Mario frowned slightly, he didn't have time for these game (even though he indulges them a little). Austin sighed impatiently, "One because I can. Two, I wanted to go out but Bri was busy so I asked you. Three, because you've been stressed and in this room for too long." Mario rolled his eyes and gave his own list in response. "One, why don't you ask Ritchie or Micheal to go with you. Two, who said I was stressed." "Ohhh. Thing One and Thing Two?" Panda replied cheekily, "They didn't want to go with me because they were playing D&D or whatever and they said something about you needing a break cause you're stupid and want to die of too much work," Mario chuckled at that, it warmed his heart to know that they were all concerned for him. But he was honestly fine, although he did appreciate the attempts to take a break.

"Well, that sucks for you, because I'm not going." Austin looked at him as he backed up a few steps, he bit his lip."That's where your wrong, you see. You agreed to go with me." Mario sucked in a breath, he did say that (more like howled).  "What if I don't." he challenged. Austin just smirked and raised his hands while wiggling them evilly.

Mario got the point.

They both ended up going to the park, which Mario was confused by at first. Why the park of all places. When he asked Panda he just said because it was a nice day, which he did agree with him. It was a nice day.... but when they came across a water fountain they discovered it had coins in it. Austin asked for a coin which Mario just gave him one for the fun of it. When Panda was done Mario asked what he wished for. He told him he'd 'show' him. Mario was then confused until he saw him roll up his sleeves and put his hand into the fountain. 

Mario suddenly became nervous as he looked around for people watching, thankfully no one saw yet. Austin pulled back out with a hand full of pennies, quarters, nickels you name it. When Mario asked why he did that Austin said he wished for more coins.

Mario just facepalmed.

~

Mario was drawn out of his room that upcoming night as he was getting ready for bed. It was exams in a few weeks and he was feeling confident so he wanted to get some well-deserved sleep. When he came out of the bathroom he came to the source of the sound, which was groaning. He found Ritchie, Micheal and Austin either in a chair at the kitchen table, the sofa or the floor.

He noticed how they all had their textbooks out with notes scattered everywhere and their laptops in front of them. He saw pencils and pens in their hands or around their ears.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked curiously as he leaned against the wall, still facing them. Ritchie looked up tiredly at him and smiled lazily, "studying." He stated plainly as he went back to looking at whatever he was reading on his laptop.

He blinked. They were... studying... with just a few weeks left? The very fact was laughable but he didn't see anything funny about the situation. He just ended up walking to the sofa where Micheal was writing on paper about some completed Algebra problems. He sat down next to him, "what are you working on." Micheal ran a hand through his hair in a tired manner, he also had some bags forming under his eyes. "Stupid Algebra problems." Mario nodded in agreement as he stood up and went over to Austin who was staring blanking at the English book in front of him.

Mario hovered over his shoulder as he did to him before to get a better look. To him, it looked like he was reading Shakespeare. Yeah, he didn't make a comment on that one.

He took a good glance at Panda and saw he was trying to stay awake, he was drooping his eyes constantly and snapping them back open in a small effort to stay awake. He probably didn't even notice he was here.

He looked back at Micheal as saw him making incoherent curse words under his breath, repeatedly erasing his answers over and over again.

He gave a look to Ritchie who was blinking at the screen in front him, he was actually blinking a lot and rubbing his eyes. He could make a bet that the lighting from the screen was hurting his eyes.

They were clearly stressed...

Mario sighed as he thought of an idea and went over to the hallway. "Everyone change clothes. We're going to take a trip." He left before he could hear any complaining, not like he expected any in the state they were in.

After a quick change he went to the living room to see his friends sitting on the couch, he gave a quick glance at the clock hanging on the wall above it. 6:47 p.m

 "Alright. Follow me." Averting his gaze to the group of very tired males in front of him. "Where are we going," Austin whined as he fixed his panda hat. Mario opened the door and walked through, "you'll see."

~ - ~ - ~

Mario pushed through the roof doors and stared into the distance, he gave a small smile. He continued to walk through with three tired and stressed friends. Once he reached the edge he sat down and waited for his friends to join him. Once they did they all looked at Mario confused. "What are we doing out here Mario," Micheal asked slightly angered. Those must of been some Algebra problems. "Yeah, we've got work to do." Ritchie agreed, even though he was stressed he knew he needed to get his work done.

"Guys, take a look in front of you." They averted their gaze from Mario and slowly looked to see what he was talking about. Micheal, Ritchie, and Austin looked out to see the beautiful sunset. Mario glanced at each of them to see them staring intently at the sun setting over the purple mountains.

"We came out here because...?" Austin said, still looking slightly in awe at the sunset. As much as he wouldn't admit it, it was beautiful. "Because," Mario started out looking towards the sun. "You guys are stressed, obviously." He could hear Ritchie chuckle, "it takes one to know."

Mario snickered at that but went back to a solemn look on his face, now seriously he said. "You guys helped me by giving me an out when I was stressed. So now I'm going to repay the favor." "Y'know that's not how friendship works," Austin said stubbornly, still having the effort to reply in such a way. "I know," Mario stated. "But, I've never had any before." Micheal then looked at him sadly, suddenly feeling bad for teasing him. "So if I'm going to have friends then I want to repay them." "And who are said, friends?" Mario smiled, "There names are Micheal, Ritchie, and Austin." At the mention of their names, they relaxed and smiled. They had never heard that before from him, it was nice to know now that they were all on the same page. "And they're a bunch of dorks," Mario ended. He could hear them all speaking at once.

"Hey! Look who's talking."
"What?"
 "Says the one who studied 3 months before exams!"

"Alright, Alright! We're dorks." Austin looked back at the sunset, "better, but I ain't no dork." Ritchie looked at him from over Mario, "You keep telling that to yourself bud."

Mario looked deeper into the sunset, "but seriously guys." "Oh boy," Austin said. Ready for some sappy remark. Mario rolled his eyes and continued, "Thanks..." he started out. "For, helping me. I want to support you guys in return so if you ever need help on your class work, feel free to ask." "Oh good, because I can't understand a single Algebra problem. Seriously, 'a equals pi squared plus b equals d. C equals to the same amount as D, but then infer how much would be E if it would be cubed?' " Micheal ranted, definitely still upset about it. Mario, Ritchie, and Austin laughed at that, it did sound complicated. But they would work it out.

Together. As friends.